Michelle Frame – Lead Instructor, Victus Ars

Michelle Frame founded Victus Ars in 2014 and has 30+ years in the sweet snacking and OTC chewables industries. She was inducted into the Candy Hall of Fame in 2021. She has CPG and ingredient experience with progressive roles with M&M/Mars, JustBorn, Colony Brands, Mantrose, FONA, CSM and Kerry Ingredients. Michelle is dedicated to the idea we can save lives and minimize pain using sweet-based chewable delivery systems for critical pediatric medications and believes in the happiness sweet snacks bring to the world.

Elizabeth Hagerman, The Hershey Company

Elizabeth Hagerman is a food technologist with The Hershey Company, where she has been working for about a year. She is a part of the US Continuous Improvement Team where she works cross-functionally with various departments within the company to complete cost reduction initiatives. Previously with the Warrell Corporation, she has been in the industry for about five years now.

Elizabeth earned her bachelor’s degree in food science and technology from Oregon State University and received a minor in chemistry along the way. She completed her master’s in global food law through an online program at Michigan State University in December 2021. Elizabeth had the privilege to speak at the PMCA Annual Production Conference which was an incredible experience and a wonderful way to give back to the organization. She was recently a recipient of PMCA’s Future Confectionery Leader Award.

AJ Khoury, Capol LLC

AJ Khoury serves as the director of technical sales for Capol, focusing on confections and emerging sectors. Prior to Capol, AJ developed his technical skills as a food technologist across many product categories including sauces, beverages, bakery, frozen food and confections. AJ is a Certified Food Scientist and holds a bachelor’s degree in food science as well as a Master of Jurisprudence in global food law from Michigan State University.

Eric Schmoyer, Barry Callebaut

Eric Schmoyer has been with Barry Callebaut since 2007, when he started as an R&D manager, managing projects for the Mona Lisa decorations facility in Hendersonville, NC and the BC chocolate factory in Robinson, IL. He was also involved in setting up, equipping, staffing and starting up the pilot facility in Pennsauken, NJ. He is currently the technical services manager, where he works with internal and external customers, solving their production issues.

Prior to joining Barry Callebaut, Eric was with the R.M. Palmer Company for almost 20 years. Starting in the moulding department and moving to tech services, he worked with raw materials, formulation and processing, as well as standard QA duties. In 1998, he was named R&D Lab manager, where his duties included ideation and new item prototype development, plant scale-ups, on-line troubleshooting, production of sales samples and managing the QA libraries.

Eric has instructed and attended several PMCA courses as well as the NCA Confectionery Residency course in Madison, WI. A member of PMCA for a long, long time, Eric is chair of the PMCA Research Committee and is active on the Long Range Planning and Student Outreach committees. He also leads the Beyond the Basics Sub-Committee, which plans the Monday morning program for the Annual Production Conference. Eric is past president of the American Association of Candy Technologists as well as Philadelphia Chairperson. He was the 2020 recipient of AACT’s Stroud Jordan Award.

Dr. Michelle Schwenk, Bellis Food Solutions

Michelle is the current president of AACT. She works as the president of Bellis Food Solutions, a product development company for the food and confections industry helping companies develop products and tackle technical challenges.

Michelle is an active member of the candy industry, teaching, speaking and advocating. She has spoken many times at PMCA and AACT, usually about her favorite subject: carbohydrates. She has been teaching at candy school for the past 20 years. She has several publications in Manufacturing Confectioner Magazine and holds several patents.

Previously, Michelle was the group director of Carbohydrates and Wellness at ADM, where she led teams creating new ingredients and supporting corn sweeteners, polyols, starches and fiber ingredients as well as the wellness portfolio. Before working at ADM, Michelle worked at Tate & Lyle for 19 years. She has also served on the board of the Calorie Control Council.

Michelle has a Ph.D. in food science from the University of Illinois where she looked at the effects of temperature on various sugars.